Electric vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles, generally include at least one electric motor powered by a rechargeable battery. Typically, the electric motor can provide motive power for the vehicle. In a hybrid electric vehicle, such motive power provided by the electric motor can be supplemental to or in substitution for motive power provided by another motive source, such as an internal combustion engine.
Whether a hybrid or not, electric vehicles can also include a push button or gear selector for putting the vehicle into the following gears or states: park, reverse, neutral and drive (and optional several drive states can be provided, such as D1, D2 and D3, for example). In one known example, push buttons are provided corresponding to each gear or states. For example, a first push button corresponds to park, a second push button corresponds to reverse, etc. When a particular push button is depressed, a signal is provided to the electronic control unit (ECU) or some other controller and then acted upon.
In contrast, conventional vehicles, such as many slightly older internal combustion engine vehicles, typically include a mechanical automatic gear shifter (sometimes referred to as a PRNDL shifter) that is movable (e.g., slidable) through various positions corresponding to park, reverse, neutral and one or more drive states. Typically, such automatic gear shifters are required to move sequentially through the gear states. For example, to move the gear shifter from park to drive, the gear shifter is typically moved through and past reverse and neutral. Due to the mechanical connection between the gear shifter and the vehicle's automatic transmission, tactile feedback is provided to the driver as the shifter was moved.